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THE LATEST EQUIPMENT

for municipal garages

Appliances which Make for Speed and Economy in Dealing with All Classes of Motorized Public Service

MODERN methods of municipal passenger transport, public cleansing road maintenance, ambulance service and fire fighting all demand the employment of a high percentage of mechanically propelled vehicles and appliances, the upkeep of which is an exceedingly important item calling for the latest forms of equipment in the garage and repair shops, and possibly no user is more keen than the municipal engineer in his demands -upon the ingenuity of the manufacturer.

We deal in this article with a number of the latest types of specialized appliance designed to give the maximum speed and efficiency. It is quite impossible in the space at our disposal to make this comprehensive. We have, therefore, selected certain products which, owing to their novelty and practicability, should make a particularly strong appeal. • An hydraulic jack which is unusually powerful and easy in operation is the Blackhawk Lightning Lift marketed by E P. Darras, Ltd., 35-37, Upper Thames Street, London; E.0.4. This is made in two capacities, 3,000 lb. and 6,000 lb., and we will deal with the latter. Its lowest lifting point is 4 ins., and its maximum height 24 ins. Only six strokes are required to raise it to its full height. It is mounted on stout wheels and can easily be operated and manoeuvred by one hand. A screw-type valve controls the lowering, and there is a double automatic pump, the power section cutting in automatically when the fast pump has raised the head to the load.

A particularly interesting machine is the B.E.N. highpressure, portable, disinfecting apparatns supplied by 13.E.N. Patents, Ltd., 92, Tottenham Court Road, London, W.1. Five ambulance stations of the L.C.C. have been equipped with complete two tar three-gun plants of the type illustrated, but of greater capacity. They have large compressors and motors and supply air for other uses, such as tyre inflation and sprky painting. The machines are complete, ready for plugging into a lamp holder or other electrical connection. The small type holds approximately 2 gallons of liquid, which is applied by the gun as a perfectly atomized mist. The interiors of the ambulances or rooms are completely filled with this cloud of disinfectant, which penetrates everywhere. Upholstery and decorations are undamaged.

The latest B.E.N. two-gun, portable, spray-painting plant is self-contained, and the .unit is compactly Mounted on two pnemnatic-tyred wheels 20 ins, in diameter. The power unit is a 3 h.p. petrol engine or an electric motor, as required. The drive from an engine is by st.coupling through a suitably enclosed reducing gear. The motor-driven sets have enclosed silent-chain drive.

The plants are complete with oil and water separators, but do not include spraying guns, paint containers and hose, which are supplied to requirements. The price of the petrol-engine set is £85. and with the electric motor £82.

Joseph Bradbury utki Sons, Ltd., Braintree, Essex, draws particular attention to the G.E. brake-service machine,

-which enables brake shoes to be accurately ground to the correct radius before assembly in the drum. This machine is in use by various corporations, including Coventry and Salford. It cuts•off the heads of old rivets, extracts them, drills and countersinks the facings and then rivets and grinds them. Complete with electric motor and band grinder, the price is £38 10s.

The G.E. brake tester permits rapid checking and balancing of the brakes on commercial vehicles. It is supplied in two forms, semi-transportable, for bolting in position, price £85, and fixed, for fitting flush with the floorlevel, price £95.

Each has a pair of corrugated rollers, running in ball bearings, which support the wheel; the front roller is free, but the back one is driven through gearing by a handoperated, detachable, effort indicator, which turns the wheel against the resistance of the brake, the reading giving an accurate comparison for the resistance on each wheel.

Another speciality is the G.E. Herculift jack, which can lift either the front or back wheels of a bus or lorry. It has a horizontal screw and a tempered-steel spring lifting beam.

One of the best-known suppliers of equipment is Brown Brothers, Ltd., Great Eastern Street, London, E.C.2. Amongst the special equipment marketed are the Hardie vehicle washers and Brunner air compressors. The former are supplied in various types for one gun up to six guns. Typical of these is the two-gun type, which supplies 12 gal

e% Ions per minute at a pressure of 400 lb., and has a 3 b.p. enclosed motor with silent-chain drive. The six-gun model delivers 35 gallons per minute ; it has a 7 or 10 h.p. motor.

The Brunner air compressors are supplied in 12 models, the air displacement per minute ranging from 1.5 cubic ft. to 30 cubic ft. tip to 150 lb. pressure a single-stage pump is utilized, above that a two-stage compressor.

One of the most widely known concerns meeting munici pal service needs is the Equipment and Engineering Co., Ltd., 2 and 3, Norfolk Street, Strand. London, W.C.2. Examples of specialized equipment are the 1-ton garage crane, the hand sweeper and the electro-magnetie crack detector. The crane is an adjustable-jib type with rollers and ball bearings throughout, whilst an extension attachment facilitates work on gearboxes. With this appliance, a man and a boy can tackle any canopy-type bus, dealing rapidly with both engine and gearbox. Its price is only ao. Esavian doors for buses and for garages are becoming increasingly popular and are used by the Corporations of Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds. They are marketed by the Educational Supply Association, Ltd., 171-181, High Holborn, London, W.C.1. These doors have been supplied for openings up to 100 ft. in width and 32 ft. in height, and, where necessary, they can be folded behind piers entirely clear of the traffic. They can also be made to fold flat against the wall in the same plane as when extended.

Two of the many useful devices supplied by Harvey Frost and Co., Ltd., 148-150, Great Portland Street, London, W.1, are the HP Jackrance and the new HP swivelling crane. The former can be described as a mobile crane with the ordinary jib replaced by a horizontal arm which rises vertically from a few inches to approximately 8 ft. This aria carries a crane hook on the under side and a removable crutch on the upper side ; thus it can act as a high-lift jack of exceptional range. The result is, of course, one of great utility.

The swivelling crane is designed to deal with, heavy vehicles that have been ditched or partly disabled. It has A capacity of 8 tons and a turntable base to permit the crane to be swung at right angles to the vehicle in which it is carried.

Designed as 5-ton and 8-ton single lift and 5-ton double lift, the Laycock-Atlas hydraulic jacks, manufactured by the Laycoek Engineering Co., Millhouses, Sheffield, are most compact, but highly efficient. Mechanically operated air-balancing valves compensate for the displacement of oil and air, thus obviating the possibility of leakage. All parts subject to stress are made from steel stampings. The prices range from £5 10s. to £6 10s.

The constant-potential battery-charging plant, electrical test bench and new car washers made by Newtons of Taunton, 3, Cavendish Place, Regent Street, London, W.1, are of especial interest.

The chargers can deal with all sizes and types of batteries simultaneously, completing the charge in eight hours. The types range from GO amps, capacity to 500 amps.

The test bench is capable of dealing with every conceivable piece of electrical equipment, and there is a specialized outfit for commercial vehicles.

The Newton Rotorforce high-pressure washer is simple and efficient. It is made of nitralloy stainless steel, the models ranging from the one-gun, giving three gallons per minute, to the six-gun providing 18 gallons per minute.

Large users of heavy vehicles have seriously to consider the question of speed in refuelling, and this must be combined with accuracy. The method adopted generally is to supply fuel through an accurately recording meter, and a speed of 21 gallons per minute can be maintained.

For this purpose much use is made of the Hammond meter made by Oil Installations, Ltd., Hammond Works, Victoria Road, North Acton, London. Hammond meters are accurate to within plus or minus .5 of 1 per cent, and deliveries are recorded to each vehicle within a quart. The

control is by a dead-man nozzle, which is safe and economical.

The Pyrene fire appliances manufactured by The Pyrena Co., Ltd., Great West Road, Brentforcl, Middlesex, extend from the popular hand extinguisher to the Phomene foam types. There are also foam generators of various capacities and complete fire-fighting installations.

The Phomene types project a blanket of foam over the surface of burning liquids. In addition, there are the Conquest soda-acid extinguishers for use on freely burning materials. They operate on being turned upside down.

S. Smith and Sons (Motor Accessories), Ltd., Crieklewood Works, London, N.W.2, has drawn our attention to the possibilities of the Jackall hydraulic four-wheel jacking system for use, particularly on ambulances. It enables any one, or all four wheels to be raised in a few seconds, and consists of four neat hydraulic jacks permanently fixed to the axles and connected by tubing to a control box sunk into the running board or other convenient point.

Another speciality is the 4-ton or 6i411. Super Tower jack, in which tilting strains are taken by overlapping weldless steel tubes. It is an hydraulic type.and extremely easy to operate.

The company is also noted for its efficient fire extinguishers; these are of the carbon-tetra-chloride type and of one pint or one-quart capacitY; The quart type is approved for use on public-service vebides":" T.ecalemit, Ltd., Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, has recently brought out an interesting type of hand elec

tric vacuum cleaner, known as the Baby Vac. It costs only five guineas and is particularly useful for the removal of dust, etc., from the crevices in the upholstery of seats and squabs. It performs with efficiency all the duties of the larger and more expensive types.

Other equipment marketed by the company include a brake tester made in two types for four-wheeled and sixwheeled vehicles, vehicle lifts operated by compressed air, a neat, one-gun, high-pressttre car washer and the famous Tecalemit equipment for lubrication, including the Airline Lubrigun and Air Compressor Combination, which costs £69 15s.

The Kismet Aerometer is a new device giving automatic control of the output from an air reservoir. It is made by William Turner and Bro., Ltd., 44, Eyre Lane, Sheffield.

A bell rings when inflation is nearing completion, and it has range .of 160 lb. In operation, the connectors are attached to both sets of front or rear tyres, and a gauge registers ,the pressure.

The Kismet general service tyre gauge costs LI. 2s, 6d., and is calibrated from 2 lb. to 170 lb.

A. C. Wells and Co., Ltd., Carnarvon Street, Cheetham, Manchester, specializes in paint-spraying equipment, foot, hand or power-operated. It also manufactures waste-oil filters with weekly outputs ranging from two gallons to 450 gallons, whilst there is a special automatic type in sizes ranging from 50 to 500 gallons per day.

A particularly useful outfit for small touching-up work is the Celspray, which costs only 30s.

• S. Wolf and Co., Ltd., 115, Southwark Street, London,. S.E.1, has made arrangements to produce in this country the well-known Wolf electric drilling machines. One of the types which is being produced has a chuck capacity of in., which is a very useful size for the garage.

Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd London, has recently introduced much improved trichlor-ethylene degreasing plant in a range of sizes, suitable for rendering mechanical parts chemically free from grease.